


Tales From The Year That Never Was

by EighthManBound



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Fun, Gen, My First Fanfic, No Plot/Plotless, Redemption, The Vault (Doctor Who), The Year That Never Was (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EighthManBound/pseuds/EighthManBound
Summary: The trouble with being a Time Traveller stuck in one place too long; you catch up to dangerous events from your past.                   With Harold Saxon AKA The Master ruling the world in a timeline fated to last only a year, The Doctor and Nardole are forced to take shelter with Missy In The Vault.Stuck together for a year they must try to avoid being caught by Saxon, rekindle a old, deadly friendship and hardest of all; try not to kill each other.It's going to be a long year...
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39





	1. Day One: The Year Begins

Day One

Now The Doctor will be the first to (Reluctantly) admit; he had left it too close this time. Of course, a great amount of his staggeringly long, bonkers life had a great deal of "too close" moments. The days he would stop a deadly countdown with only seconds to spare, the moments some "evil mastermind" were on the verge of winning what they wanted, and the seconds he, or even worse, the lives of his friends, were inches away from death. 

This time however it could have been argued he had time to prepare, years even. 60, to be exact. As Nardole kept repeating for the last two hours, he should have known what was coming and when it happened; he was there during the whole thing the first time round. The Doctor's excuse was that it happened to him "lifetimes" ago, with an unlimited amount of crisis's happening since he couldn't have been expected to remember the exact date. The reasoning for why he almost forgot did very little to comfort Nardole, who kept giving The Doctor the stink eye the whole time they were hurriedly packing up everything from The Doctor's office into the TARDIS. Even when he was hacking into the Universities files to remove all mention of the "mysterious lecturer" at St Luke, he would occasionally look up from his screen to glare at The Doctor. If the man he had sworn to work with had any interest in the worlds politics or even picking up a newspaper he would have had all the foresight needed. Naturally when asked about this The Doctor just muttered about how if he had the slightest interested in tedious politics he never would have left his home in the first place.

Had it not been for a cheeky, bordering on sinister comment from Missy The Doctor would have been caught completely unaware. As it were they had just enough time (barely a day) to sort everything out and, after a lot of time and effort trying to calculate the Transcendental Configuration of two Gallifreyan technological objects, demarginalized the TARDIS inside the Vault, with only a minimal amount of dimensional rippage. Harmless.   
Probably.

As The Doctor and Nardole stepped out into the large chamber that would be their "home" for a while they were greeted by excited yelling from the mistress of chaos herself, Missy, grinning wildly from the other side of her glass cell.  
"Ah, my roomies! Come in come in, don't forget to take your shoes off! Oooh this is gonna be so much fun! We can stay up late, watch movies, talk about the boy's we like, play pillow fights; actual fights with pillows, to the death!"  
Nardole turned to give The Doctor an exasperated look.  
"I want you to know, I already really, really hate this"  
"Noted, now help me bring out everything."  
The pair move to go back inside the TARDIS but a banging on the glass from behind them caught their attention.  
"Hang about!" Missy yelled. "The shows about to start! You don't want to miss it, it's a real classic!"  
With a theatrical motion her arms swing upwards, holding a remote control and turns on a small Magpie television box that's sitting on a cart, just outside of her cell. The screen fades, showing a worldwide, live news report.  
Curious, Nardole walks forwards to look at the screen. The Doctor follows, but slowly, his steps heavy as he knows what he will seen.

On the screen, two men in suits stand in frame, while several black, metallic speheres are suspended in the air. One of the men, arms crossed with an arrogant air, turns his head at one of the spheres and simply says; "Kill him".  
Spikes burst out of the bottom of one of the spheres and is followed by a burst of red light, striking the other man and disintegrating him instantly, reducing the supposedly most powerful man on earth to ashes. The rest of the room on the broadcast bursts into chaos as innocent people scream, people with guns threaten them and the mastermind behind it all claps and laughs at it all like a deranged madman.  
In her cell Missy giggles and jumps for joy, arms in the air as though she's celebrating a goal in a sports match  
"Get in Saxxy!" She turns to look at the two men, ignoring the look of horror and disgust on their faces. "Did you see that! The look on the stupid President as he exploded into nothing! Brilliant! One of my biggest hits!" She turns her attention back to the spectacle, laughing as a man in a brown suit is held down by guards.  
Nardole looks up at The Doctor, his face quivering in fear. He opens his mouth to speak but The Doctor beats him to it, a stony expression on his face as he tries to hide his anger from boiling out.   
No one would have had the guts to tell him it wasn't working.   
"If I could stop it Nardole, you know I already would have. This is my past, I can't intervene. I know this will be hard, believe me, I know, but we just have to wait out for a year, one year than history reverts to it's proper timeline. Everyone will be saved. Well," he grows sad, as he thinks about the man he just watched die for a second time, "almost everyone."  
"But you haven't told me why do we need to be here? Why can't we just leave demented Mary Poppins over there to rot in here and we go someplace safe in the TARDIS, somewhere far away? This would be the one time it'd be fine for you to break your oath sir, as you say, history will revert, so in a way it'l be like you never left!"  
"Because right now there are two versions of the TARDIS in this timeline, ours and it's past self, one that's been molded by that grinning twerp over there into a Paradox machine. If we leave the temporal disturbance will be catastrophic, not only will it leave us stranded here but The Master will detect us, and I doubt he'll be happy to find out how short his "master empire" lasts."  
He leans in closer to whisper to Nardole.  
"Besides, we can't leave Missy unattended, especially now. If those two get in contact with each other, who knows what could happen..."

"If you two are done talking about lovely old me, you can shut it and watch the rest of the show, the really good bit is coming up. Don't suppose I can get popcorn?"  
Hearing Missy's words, the two return their attention to the TV, where Prime Minister Harold Saxon, or as the world will soon find out, The Master, is standing over what was the young man in the brown suit but has now become a very old looking man, somehow aged rapidly in just seconds. Missy snorts out a giggle at the sight.  
"Aw, I missed the grandpa look. Mind you, had I known you'd end up as an old fossil anyways I wouldn't have bothered."  
The Doctor doesn't respond, just staring dejectedly at the ordeal his past self was going through. He remembered how much pain that particular life went through in just that one year, how powerless he was to stop the Master from wrecking havoc across the planet he loved. Now, he'd have to feel that powerlessness all over again.  
Missy smirks. "Not denying how old you look? My my, you really are in a bad mood aren't you?"  
She looked away from him back to the screen, knowing full well he was giving "the look" at her.  
"She... well they may be a genocidal psychopath, but I'll give them one thing sir," Nardole said, watching the screen with a mixture of horror and awe as "Harold Saxon" danced as the sky literally tore apart, revealing a pitch red coloured realm with thousands, no millions of Toclofane pouring out of it; "They do have style."  
The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh as he walked back to The TARDIS to pick up the essentials needed to stay in the Vault, like the Food Machine and security devices such as an electric net; he could never be to careful with Missy.  
"Sure when they bounce around they have style, I be theatrical and i'm a show-off." he muttered under his breath.  
Nardole hurried after him as fast as his less than Olympian physique would allow. He had hoped a robotic body would have made him faster, if anything it made it slower. He wouldn't have been surprised if The Doctor made it that way on purpose.  
"Sir, do you really think it's wise for you and her to be stuck in the same place together for a year? You can barely stand it when you are stuck in one city for a month, let alone a room for a year.. What if she, you know, gets into your head?"  
The Doctor was halfway inside the TARDIS door before he turned around to face Nardole with a offended expression.  
"Get inside my head? Who do you think I am? Look stop your panicking, this will be fine. One year is only 365 days, that's nothing to me. This will be over in a blink of an eye; and then it wouldn't have happened at all! Easy!"  
Nardole refused to back down.  
"You really think you can go a whole year, knowing exactly what's happening to the world out there, and not get involved to help?  
The Doctor stared straight into Nardoles eyes.  
"That's why I've got you here."  
Nardole blinked, trying to register the words. He and The Doctor constantly bickered and mocked each other; getting anything that resembled a compliment from him felt like, well a proper achievement. He had another purpose, a duty. Nardole swelled his chest with pride.  
The Doctor rolled his eyes at the display.  
"No no don't give me that look. It's like a dog looking happy it's learned how to be house trained. Besides, the world doesn't need me to solve the problem for once. Not when it's got Martha Jones..."

Over at Missy's glass cell she presses herself fully against the glass, shouting at the television, knowing full well her words won't make a difference; still felt fun to shout them anyways.  
"OI! Turn around! Stop gloating the lassie is gonna get away! She's going to ruin everything unless you stop- AH and she got away. Brilliant work, you gorgeous idiot."  
She slumps to the floor, like a child throwing a tantrum. On the other side of the room. The Doctor allows himself a small smile, happy in the knowledge what his old friend would accomplish. Then the smile faded before anyone else in the room could see it.  
"365 days. Three people, one murderous meglomaniac trapped in here with us, while another rules everything out there. It all starts now. What-"  
Nardole hurriedly interrupts; "Don't you dare finish that!"  
The Doctor glances at Missy. She looks at him with raised eyebrows, like she's silently daring him to do it. He looks back down at Nardole.  
"What could possibly go wrong?"


	2. Month One

"Do it."  
"No."  
"Do it!"  
"I said no."  
"Oh come one!" Missy cried, as she pounds on the glass.  
The usually sparse Vault chamber had become more lively during the last month after The Doctor and Nardole moved in, with more furniture for the two to sit and relax on and read books.  
Something that Missy was not a fan of, as she was still imprisoned inside the glass cell.

"It was one thing to have me be in this godforsaken Vault for a thousand years, that's fine, easy peasy. But keeping me cooped up in this, this box for a year! With nothing to do but be gawked at by you lot, like i'm some kind of Zoo animal!"  
"But that's exactly what you are Missy." The Doctor calmly said, "You're a dangerous animal, a Tiger, patiently waiting inside it's cage, waiting for a moment to be let out and tear our throats out. I won't let you, not while Nardole and I are stuck down here."  
Missy coyly smiled, patting her hair into a presentable manner.  
"Doctor, really, now isn't the time to flirt, not with your pet Bulldog watching."  
The Doctor and Nardole look up from the books they are reading to stare at Missy; Nardole offended by the Bulldog comparison, while The Doctor looks flabbergasted.  
"I, I was not flirting!" The Doctor forced out, lacking his usual composure.  
Missy had her hand do a claw gesture and mimed roaring at him.  
The Doctor sprang from the chair he was in, striding towards the glass cell.  
"You don't need to be conscious for all this you know, I can quite easily activate the nerve gas, let you drift in and out of consciousness for a year. Would probably be easier for everyone."  
Nardole quickly looked up from his Garfield comic and shouted "That's been an option this whole time!?" The Time Lords opted to ignore him.

Missy slowly backed away from the glass, not saying a word, her expression neutral. Satisfied The Doctor turned to walk back to his chair and finish the novel he was reading, "The Time Machine". He had a tradition to read it at least once in every incarnation, it always surprised him how it felt different each time. Of course, he does have a history of being interrupted in reading this book a lot...  
"I get it. This is payback isn't it?"  
Missy's quite words caused the Doctor to stop walking, turning around to face her.  
"What?"  
She sat down on her bed, staring at her nails instead of The Doctor as she spoke. "Out there, first time round with me as king of the world, I kept you as a pet on my kingdom in the sky. I wanted to show off to you; hurt you. But, that was wrong, to humiliate you like that, it was far too immature, even for us."  
The Doctor frowned. "Missy, are you apologising?"  
She snapped her attention at him.  
"No, I went to considerable effort to avoid saying the A word. My point is Doctor, in here, it's switched isn't it? You're the one in control. And despite all your melodramatic rambles about kindness and justice, all the times you insisted your way was better than mine, you're doing the same thing I did, keeping me in a cage."  
There was a moment of silence between the two for a while, as she waits for him to say something, some sort of retort about how it's not the same but he says nothing, eventually she continues speaking.  
"I was excited you know, when you said you'd be staying in here for a year. Trapped in this Vault for decades, allways within your reach and yet you barely talk to me, you only come to me when you want to complain about not being able to go off world or stop some silly invasion. I thought with you in here, we could finally, properly talk. Like; friends. But clearly that's not what you have in mind."

Having spoken her mind, the Time Lady lies down on her bed, staring up at the top of the cell where nerve gas would be dispersed if he so chose. She heard a buzzing noise and tensed; instead the door of her glass cell slided open. Surprised she got up and looked at The Doctor; he had his back to her, walking back to his armchair. Nardole however, was staring straight at her looking less than pleased.  
"Sir, I don't suppose there is any chance you could-"  
"I'm not giving you a weapon Nardole."  
"Doesn't have to be a weapon, a nice pointy stick would do wonders for my anxiety."

Regaining her composure, Missy stood up and took her first step out of her cell, ready to join the others.  
"Oi! If he's getting a stick I want one too!"


	3. Month Two

"Don't do it."  
"It'l be fine."  
"Missy, please don't do it"  
"Will you stop your stressing, i'm trying to help!" She said, grinning despite oil sprayed on her face and with screwdriver in hand (the non sonic variety) as she crouches next to a battered looking Food Machine with it's casing opened. The Doctor had depended on the classic TARDIS Food Machine to provide an unlimited amount of food for the year, but overlooked how years of unused had lead to the "nutrient bars" it produced having a unsavoury taste.

"Honestly Doctor when was the last time you looked at this thing, it's growing with mould!"  
"I dunno, couple faces ago, everyone seems to prefer cooking in the kitchen."  
Missy pointed at Nardole with the screwdriver "Oi you, Six Dollars Man, help me out with this!"  
Nardole looked at The Doctor with a silent pleasing look, who just simply nodded. Sighing Nardole got up and went up to join Missy on the ground; keeping a weary eye on where she was holding the screwdriver.

"Hold down that lever thingy" she said, gesturing at a vague area of the inside of the machine, as she was rewiring a different part of the old machine. Gingerly Nardole touched it; only to shudder as energy coursed around him.   
With a high pitched "MEEP!" sound coming from his mouth, he collapsed onto the ground, twitching.  
"What did you do?" The Doctor shouted as he leapt from his chair to be by Nardoles side, monitoring his condition.  
"I thought he could take it, you said he was cybernetic!"  
"Mostly cybernetic I said! He still has organic components. Okay, He'll be fine, just need to purge the residue energy out of him to get the system working again. Grab me the box by the TARDIS, the yellow one."  
"Right." Missy hurried off, hurrying to the TARDIS that was landed next to The Vault entrance, behind the Doctor's vision. Missy smiled to herself as she reached towards the TARDIS door...  
A flash of light filled the room for a brief second, followed by the sound of a 50 kilogram body crashing onto the floor. The Doctor didn't look behind him, keeping his attention on Nardole, instead just hearing the quiet sounds of sizzling and deep breathing before Missy spoke up, with a soft, pained voice that was trying too hard to sound innocent.  
"Doctor?"  
"Yes Missy?"  
"Just out of interest, did you hide security devices in the room that activates, say hypothetically, if I were to try to open the TARDIS?"  
"Mh, yes I might have done. I may have also programmed them to detect any possible threats you might take against me and Nardole. Hypothetically, of course."  
"Smart that, very smart. Completely unnecessary as I would never do anything like that, but still smart. Did you say yellow box?"  
The Doctor murmured yes. He heard the sound of someone struggling to get up from the floor. Moments later she showed up in front of him holding the yellow box; her hair was frizzled, with steam rising from it, her expression annoyed. The box "accidentally" slipped from her hands, as she let it crash to the floor. Without a word she went to her lounge chair, as the Doctor opened the box to find to find the tools needed and started the process to revive Nardole, knowing full well how angry Nardole would be when he woke up.  
So naturally he took his time fixing the problem.


	4. Month Three

With the Food Machine busted they had to rely on the food left in the TARDIS, fortunately there was enough to keep the three of them sustained; for a while anyways. If they were smart with what the consumed and when they do it they could just about make it to end of the year. 

That is, unless they killed each other first.

Tensions were growing high, the trouble with having two hyperactive geniuses who needed little sleep stuck in a room together is all the books get read very quickly. (Nardole was still halfway through and content with his Garfield book)   
The Doctor tried to keep himself busy through various means, pacing up and down the chamber, working on equations, strumming loudly on his guitar; and on particularly boring days did all three simultaneously. The more he did this however the more frustrated and annoyed both Nardole and Missy became with the constant barrage of noise coming from him that it eventually all boiled out with Missy screaming at The Doctor that she would smash up the guitar if he kept going. 

This lead to the Time Lords to start bickering at each other, the more they did the angrier and louder things became. At one point The Doctor and Missy chose not to say anything to each other at all. It lasted a whole day and Nardole finally started to feel at peace. That peace was ultimately and brutally shattered by Missy softly singing under her breath;  
"I can't decide whether you should live or die..."  
This lead to a "book fight" between the two, initiated by The Doctor, as they threw volume after volume at each other, with Nardole caught in the crossfire as he tried (and failed) to hide underneath the table.

After they grew bored of it, Nardole suggested they play a board game, Monopoly; Raxacoricofallapatorius Edition, in an attempt to keep things civil.  
At first it seemed to work, it distracted the two from constantly insulting each other as it gave their minds the challenge it needed and it lasted a week.  
Then another.  
And another.  
By this point Nardole had already given up but for the Time Lords the competition grew more and more fierce, with the two returning to their constant insults. One night as Nardole went to sleep he saw the pair still at it, accusing the other of cheating.

The next morning the very first thing he saw was the board game on fire, with Missy and The Doctor on opposite ends of the room not looking at each other and barely batted an eye while Nardole screamed as he desperately stamped out the fire.  
Nardole didn't know which one did it, both of them were equally capable of doing it in his eyes.   
All he knew was that they were never playing board games again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Honesty: This is my favourite chapter of the story. I've got longer and more character heavy chapters coming up but I had a lot of fun coming up with and writing some of the stuff in this chapter! I hope people enjoy the ridiculous imagery of the "Monopoly scene" as much as I do!


	5. Month Four

The day "Harold Saxon" and The Toclofane took over everything, one of the many things that it resulted in was the end of all networks, apart from Archangel, which of course The Master controlled, meaning the only time televisions would work is when the self-proclaimed lord and Master of Earth allowed it, to demonstrate to the human race his great and mighty power, such as freezing the River Nile, opening Fusion Mills in China or seemingly resurrecting one of his victims; only to kill them again.  
For the most part the group in the Vault ignored these broadcasts, but today The Doctor insisted they watch, that they witness the travesty The Master would commit.   
For today was the day Japan would be razed to the ground.

The Trio gathered around the small television set, as it flickered to life revealing the image of the Master standing in The Valiant, his wife Lucy Saxon wrapped around his arms, looking dazed from the flurry of events from the last several months. On the sidelines The Doctor could see his pre-aged past self, Captain Jack Harkness and the Johnes family, all in chains, forced to look out at the giant window in front of them, seeing Japan sprawling underneath. In his usual arrogant tone The Master welcomed "his people" to the destruction of a long-standing culture and it's islands.  
Missy stretched and yawned in her lounge chair. "Must we have a repeat viewing of this? It's far less interesting when you're not watching it all in person from the sky."  
The Doctor ignored her, keeping his attention on the screen. With a flourish of his hands, The Master signaled the rain of destruction upon the Nation, as millions of Toclofane descended down like a swarm and fired long streams of energy downwards.   
The cries of protest from the Jones family and The Doctor could be heard; before being drowned out by the laughter of The Master.   
At this point the broadcast changed from the Valiant to various ground-level footage across Japan, as the Toclofane and their beams of destruction wreaked havoc.   
Missy tensed up. The Doctor glanced at her.  
"You never saw it from this side before, did you?"  
She gave no response, still watching the screen.  
Thousands of people could be seen running in panic, men, women and children, all screaming in terror; before being cut violently short, as bursts of red light turned them to ash.  
Missy looked almost haunted by the sounds.

Many of the cameras had been destroyed in the onslaught, those that had miraculously survived only showed a burning hellscape, with no sign of life. The feed cut back to The Master, reveling in the mayhem beneath his feet and the sight of the chained captives next to him crying in despair or threatening to kill him, but at this point The Doctor switched the television off. Without a word, Missy left her chair and walked across the room, not looking at anyone.  
Nardole looked sick and afraid. He wasn't a fan of humans and he was no saint himself in his past but this; this was pure, pointless evil. He turned to The Doctor to ask; "Did anyone survive?"  
"Only one." Was all The Doctor said, as he stared at the lonely figure of Missy across the room. If he was feeling hopeful, he'd have thought Missy looked remorseful.


	6. Month Five

"Who did it!?"  
Nardole and Missy looked up from their paintings.   
The Doctor suggested that it be something they do, a safe, non-competitive activity where they could express themselves.   
Nardole wanted to do knitting, he missed his woolly hats, but then he realized that letting Missy near pointy objects of any kind was maybe not such a wise idea.  
For a while, it was actually going well, the three of them were somewhat content, The Doctor painted a gorgeous representation of a far-off galaxy he had seen on his travels, Missy crafted a sort of Abstract Horror piece, yet one to Nardole's surprise was more toned down than he was expecting anything to come out of her head. As for his own artwork; well yes he confessed that it was maybe not as impressive as the others, but he felt that the Time Lords calling it something even a 6-year-old human could do better felt bang out of order. He felt rather proud of his Sunflower with a smiling face.   
Missy complained that the selection of paints at their disposal was of the "boring human" variety, that it failed to bring her "artistic vision" to life, so The Doctor went to the crates left around The TARDIS to pick up a special can he had collected on the planet Kolpasha, paint with telepathic abilities that would change colour to the exact shade that the artist wanted. However when The Doctor came back, striding towards them, shouting his question as he was manically waving around a different type of can, a food can.

"What're you on about Mac?" Missy asked. The Doctor leaned in towards her, practically shoving the food can in her face so she could see a pair of googly eyes had been stuck on.  
"Oh that, yeah that was me." She simply stated, unfazed by the erratic look The Doctor was giving as she turned her attention back to her painting.  
"Why!?" The Doctor cried in a raised, exasperated voice.  
"I was bored and I saw googly eyes, what did you think I was gonna do?"  
"I think it looks cute." Nardole added, smiling at the rare sight of something fun inside the Vault.   
The Doctor turned his stare towards him."Cute!?" He spat out.  
Under his gaze Nardole felt his confidence slipping. "Its, it makes it fun looking..."

The Doctor backed away from the pair in a very melodramatic manner. "You can't just stick eyes onto inanimate objects like that all willy nilly! This is food, not a person! You'll just end up giving it names and grow attached to it and then where will we be!?"  
An award silence fills the room after The Doctors loud rant, finally broken with Missy softly saying "Why don't you go get some sleep pet?"  
The Doctor just muttered something incoherent underneath his breath as he stomped off. Nardole looked at Missy with a very confused expression as she explained to him;   
"He loves to act oh so melodramatic, just to cover up when he's feeling tired, it's almost adorable. A little shut-eye and he'll get over it.   
Besides, I bet he's secretly kicking himself he didn't come up with the idea for it first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter got pretty dark, so here's a pretty silly chapter to keep it balanced! Don't ask me why I find the imagery of the Doctor shouting over a pair of googly eyes on a can hilarious, it just does it for me somehow.  
> Also for a little fun trivia; Kolpasha isn't a planet I made up, it's the same planet where the Sixth Doctors famous "explosion in a rainbow factory" coat comes from, thought it'd be a nice little reference!


	7. Month Six

A loud Alarm blared in the chamber, as The Doctor and Nardole were at "battle stations", that is to say Nardole was typing furiously at the laptop on his lap while the Doctor was leaning so much over Nardole's shoulder his nose nearly touched the screen.

Six Months ago during the hectic day of rushing around to prepare to move into the Vault, The Doctor and Nardole set up security parameters around the University, to keep track of the outside world. There was a huge swarm of human life signs growing larger each month, the University probably has become a safe house for all kinds of people.   
There were a few appearances by Toclofane over the last several months, most likely drones keeping check on people but nothing resembling an attack.  
That all changed this morning. More than a dozen Toclofane were registered on the computer, while human life signs were dropping. The Doctor couldn't help but think that some of his students may be up there right now, running for their lives against the murderous spheres. The sad fact was, right now he couldn't go help.   
Because if the Toclofane found the door to the Vault at the University, it could lead to them reporting the anomaly to The Master, who had the know-how and tenacity to blow down the door while reactivating it's Transcendental connection to the inside of the Vault and have The Doctor and Nardole captured and be reduced to slaves on The Valiant, while Missy would give her past life the information needed to prevent the plan Martha and The Doctor's past life had and spearheading the invasion against the rest of the universe, where nobody would be safe.  
Nardole was starting to regret his choice of wearing Frog Slippers this morning.

"Doctor, they're in the cellar, 3 of them. They're starting to scan the door" Nardole said, his voice becoming squeaky as it often does when he becomes afraid. "Can you redirect them?" The Doctor inquired.  
"I can overload one of our detectors, enough megajoules to fry them but it would risk letting the others know. I can access their hive-network but there's no point adding anything to it, they can instantly tell somethings off." He turns to The Doctor. "Sir, I think we should run away in the TARDIS."  
The Doctor frowned as he leaned away from the screen "I told you we can't use The TARDIS."  
"They're going to detect us anyways, this way we can delay it!" Nardole shouted. The Doctor rested his hands on his chin, thinking of the right move he could make. Retreating in The TARDIS would save them yes; but it could risk putting a stop to his whole plan.   
But could he really risk the lives of Nardole and everyone else in the world on just on a hunch?  
"I believe I can be of assistance boys," Missy called across from them, finally looking away from her latest art piece.  
"You can?" Nardole and The Doctor said simultaneously.

"Don't sound so shocked, you know I'm a lady of many talents" Missy said, as she practically skipped over towards them. "Besides, I have the ultimate advantage, being I'm the mad, beautiful genius who helped create our flying friends in the first place. Not sure why I chose a circle design, bit primary school isn't it?"  
"You mentioned you could help us" The Doctor said through gritted teeth, trying to stop himself from snapping at her.  
"Oh yes. See I hid a little treat in those genocidal volleyballs, just in case they got out of line and needed a good spanking from yours truly. A code that when transmitted to their network can manipulate them. Give me the laptop, I can make them forget this door ever existed."  
"Not on your bloody nelly love!" Nardole turned to The Doctor to ask "People still say Nelly right?" but The Doctor wasn't paying attention, keeping his eyes on Missy.  
"Why should we trust you?" He asked. Nardole groaned.  
"Sir you can't take this seriously! Even if she does have a code, she could use it to rat us out! Why would she work against herself?" Nardole shouted.  
"I was talking to her, but you make a good point. Why prevent yourself from winning?" The Doctor asked, his expression neutral.  
Missy frowned, putting her hands on her hips as she stared down at him. "Because he had his time to shine. If he won, I wouldn't be me then would I? And I like me, I'm fun. Besides, I believe I promised you I would be, what's the world; Good?. So come on. Trust me."  
Seconds passed as the two Time Lords, the old friends/enemies stared at each other as the alarm kept echoing in the room. Finally the Doctors stare relented.  
"Nardole, give her the computer."  
With a grunt of disapproval Nardole gingerly handed his laptop over to Missy; who snatched it right out of his hands into hers and started rapidly typing in numbers, before throwing the laptop back to Nardole who nearly shrieked as he flayed about trying to catch it. Missy sat back down on her chair, snapping her fingers. "Did it!"  
Nardole looked at the screen, doing a double-take before looking at The Doctor. "They're gone. She actually did it."  
Missy looked offended. "Yeah, that's what I just said wasn't it? Now turn off that bloody alarm! If I can barely hear myself think it's amazing you're functioning at all!"  
With an embarrassed look and a press of a button Nardole silenced the alarm. The Doctor walked over to Missy, placing his hand on her shoulders as he said "Thank you."  
She glanced up at him before shrugging as if it were no big deal.   
When he walked away and she was sure he wasn't looking she smiled to herself.


	8. Month Seven

"She looks sad."  
The Doctor looked up fro his painting, surprised at what Missy just said. "What?"  
"Lucy, she looks sad" she responded, pointing at the television screen where The Master and his wife Lucy were standing in front of the desecrated Mount Rushmore to give a Christmas Eve Speech; which essentially boiled down to "Celebrate Christmas at your own risk".   
While The Master had his usual smug grin, Lucy did indeed look sad, tired even. She had a hand around one of her wrists, as though she was hiding something on it.

It was Missy who insisted they watch every time The Master did a broadcast, though she didn't cheer or talk as she used to, instead she was quiet, deep in thought, watching the actions of her past self, her face illuminated by the changing lights on a nearby Christmas Tree The Doctor had set up to cheer up the inhabits of The Vault. Seeing Missy look more serious than he is used to he felt it would be best to keep talking with her.   
"I think she was sad, after a while, the fun ran out and she realized what kind of life she really was in; who she was with. Didn't you ever notice during that time?"  
She sighs before she responds. "No, not really. She was my, what's the term, trophy wife? Just a disguise Mister Saxon needed to appear friendly and human, the perfect Prime Minister. A fun distraction that he... I got bored of eventually."  
The Doctor leaned in closer to her. "Did you really need her though? Your disguise could have worked fine without her, you had the Archangel Network inside everyone's head guaranteeing you a win."  
Missy shrugged, not looking The Doctor in the eye.   
"No, I suppose not. I think I think I wanted my own companion. To see what it was that you loved so much about having so many humans. Still don't see the appeal.   
I think a part of her broke inside after her first time trip to the far future, seeing the warped end of humanity."

The Doctor leaned back in his chair, switching off the television. "That's the problem. You see the universe as pointless, a stream of events that ultimately end in the end of all things. You want to control things just so you have some sense of purpose and power. And you forced your view upon that poor girl to make her a pawn in your game."  
Missy turned to stare at him, anger flaring in her eyes. "Isn't that what you do with all your pets, show them the universe only in exchange for forcing your thoughts, your perceived notion of morality onto them? To make them tools in your never-ending battle with those you disagree with? Isn't that your attempt at control?"  
He turned to stare right back at her matching her intensity. "No. I show them the potential the universe has. The capacity for chaos, cruelty, love, and kindness and I let them draw their own conclusions. The choice is theirs."  
She turns away from him. "God, you become more sanctimonious every time you get a new face. It used to be cute, now it's just overbearing."  
"Missy?" The Doctor asked, trying to keep things on track. "Why are you thinking about Lucy now? Do you; regret what you did to her?"  
Missy took a moment to think before responding.   
"Well, I regret how it ended. A divorce would have sufficed, she didn't need to shoot me. A bit overkill and that's coming from me."  
"Missy." The Doctor sternly spoke.  
"Perhaps." She replied curtly. "Maybe this new body offers me more, shall we say, empathy to ladies. You should try it someday, you're always going on about change being good."  
The Doctor smiled. "Maybe I will." He paused to think of something else to say, but before he could open his mouth the TARDIS door swung open as out came dripping wet was Nardole with a pink towel around his waist.  
"I think I need a haircut, being stuck in here, it's grown terribly, I look a mess" He complained. Missy gave him a long stare, squinting at the top of his seemingly bald head.  
"Invisible hair?" she asked.  
"Yeah, it's good innit?" He replied.  
"I'm good with hair, I can give you a little makeover," She said. Nardole beamed at the gesture. "I'll need some scissors" She added, causing Nardole's face to drop.   
"On second thought, always wanted to grow a mullet, I missed out during the '80s." Nardole finally noticed the stare The Doctor was giving him.   
He suddenly felt as though he had interrupted something very important...


	9. Month Eight-Ten

The total blur of time that was the last several months to the Vault Trio all started when The Doctor agreed to something he had initially deemed unthinkable.  
He added googly eyes to a tin can.  
The food supply was running low, along with morale. Seeing how something as simple and silly as a can with eyes stuck on seemed to cheer Nardole and Missy, The Doctor reluctantly decided to let them do it and join in as well. At first they had one can each and for some reason this cheered them up immensely.  
Perhaps because the three of them had grown tired of seeing each other every day they had welcomed the sight of "new faces".  
One day Nardole discovered a massive crate of Ginger beer, for some reason hidden at the very bottom of a crate. Missy joyfully took a dozen and while The Doctor initially denied it, eventually he gave in and started taking some.  
Overtime the cans became more customized with features such as mouths drawn on and despite The Doctors initial warning, they gave them names.

A month later a seemingly harmless little fun became an obsession bordering on dangerous, as The Doctor and Missy insisted on having more "toys" and started shouting at each other when one felt the other had more cans or if one suspected googly eyes had been taken from the crates without permission. Before Nardole could begin to suspect the turn this would take the Time Lords were at war with each other, taking control of one side of the room. The Time Lords had based the looks of their "Tin Soldiers" on their respective past incarnations as they became their "soldiers" with The Doctor and Missy as "generals" planning out battle tactics to outwit the enemy, recreating old battles between the two, as they shouted at each other from behind their pillow forts.  
During all this Nardole simply hid inside the TARDIS, content with his singular Can named Eddie, and was reading a book on Gallifreyan biology, where he realized his terrible mistake in giving the Time Lords anything Ginger related.   
By the time Nardole popped his head out of the TARDIS Missy and The Doctor were in the middle of the room, in a very delirious state, holding each other as they cried and repeatedly apologized to each other; before they both vomited on the floor and passed out, leaving Nardole to clean up the mess.   
Times like these he wished he was left as a head inside Hydroflax. 

When the two awoke the effects of the ginger was still prevalent but they were in a more joyful mood as they decided to start a party; and they never really stopped.  
At first, Nardole was furious at the two for once again another mess he had to clean up but after a lot of convincing (and a nice bottle of Esquin Nest Wine) he joined in and subsequently lost all track of time as the three of them kept dancing, drinking and singing to all kind of music played loudly on a speaker, most of which he had never heard of before. Sometimes The Doctor would strum along on his guitar to the rapturous applause of Nardole and Missy, the latter of which whispered into his ears saying out of all the misfits The Doctor collected, he was her favorite. Nardole was so lost in his euphoria of joy he didn't hear when Missy followed it up with "Apart from Miss Grant, I would literally kill to protect Miss Grant."  
After possibly months of non-stop partying the three finally collapsed onto one of the pillow forts, Nardole cuddling the pair as they drifted into consciousness, thinking to himself that maybe she wasn't such a bad bird after all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those confused about the focus on Ginger Beer, here's a short little history lesson.  
> In "The Android Invasion" The Doctor showed a fondness for Ginger Beer, and later stories in books and Big Finish revealed that Ginger had a "profoundly deleterious effect on Time Lord metabolism".   
> The Idea of The Vault Trio getting hammered seemed too good not to go with!


	10. Month Eleven

"I could kill them" Missy thought to herself.  
She watched Nardole and The Doctor fall asleep next to her, innocently aware of the ideas inside her head.   
It would be easy to kill them, in fact she had already done the hard part of securing how to kill them. She saw that a vital flaw in The Doctor's security system was that it was prepped to take her out should she pose a serious threat to Nardole or The Doctor; it was very unlikely The Doctor had the system register Nardole as a threat.   
Over the last 11 months she had slowly but surely taken control, electrocuting Nardole to knock out defenses in his cybernetics and whenever the Doctor was not around slowly hypnotized Nardole, adding a sub-message into him piece by piece. Now with the right code word, he would be her servant and take out The Doctor for her and secure the key necessary to escape The Vault in the TARDIS. Hell, to add insult to injury, she could strangle Nardole to death with the Doctors own guitar string. It was the sort of twisted fate Missy had given to so many before. It would be so easy to do it again.   
So the question is; would she?  
Missy had her mouth open, the word needed to take control on the tip of her tongue; but she relented and closed her lips. It wouldn't matter to escape, in a months time Martha Jones will ruin The Master's plan and history will revert, she would remember only glimpses of what had transpired in the last year and end up exactly where she started.   
It was possible for her to interfere in her own past to give Saxon the advantage needed, it wasn't like she was opposed to breaking the Laws of Time.  
And yet, she felt no desire to do it. She was unsure when or how it happened, but she had lost her bloodlust for chaos. Maybe it was because she had found a new perspective for the terror The Master brought in his wake, perhaps after such a very long life and numerous foiled plans she was losing interest in being Master of the universe, or possibly the Ginger had affected her mental state more than she let on.   
Yes, yes that was probably it.   
In any case, she'd let The Doctor win this one, but when the timelines revert to their correct path, she couldn't guarantee what she would do next. The Universe wouldn't be totally safe from her just yet. For now, she was happy to just snuggle up between Nardole and The Doctor, and fall into a peaceful sleep.


	11. Month Twelve

The last month had been quiet after the month-long bender came to a close and the morning after where everyone had a massive headache and didn't speak to each other for days. Finally the anniversary of The Year That Never Was came, and the day after that would be the final day of the Master regime.  
The trio once more gathered around the television, this time with a picnic variety of food laid out before them as they were free to finish the last of the supplies, along with their "army" of googley eyed cans lined across the table, as they watched the Masters downfall during what was supposed to be a broadcast of the execution of the captured Martha Jones. Nardole was impressed when The Doctor told him about the Masterplan of using the countdown and the Archangel network against the Master. When the time came The Doctor and Nardole started saying "Doctor", over and over again, matching the thousands upon thousands of people across the world saying the exact same thing at the same time. Missy muttered to herself, calling The Doctor a raging narcist; and yet Nardole could swear he heard her quietly joining in saying the mantra.

On the Television screen, in the corner of the room where an ancient looking Doctor was stuck in a cage (The Doctor made Nardole swear not to comment on it which he solemnly swore to; seconds later he and Missy both shouted Gollum at the same time) A bright light burst out. The Doctor turned to Nardole.  
"You want style Nardole? I give you style" He gestures at the screen, where the past version of the Doctor, emanating in a radiant glow, somehow caused the cage to dissipate as he grew back to normal size and aged backward to his true age, as he started to levitate in the air grandly.  
"Blimey" Nardole murmured, impressed at the sight as The Doctor (his Doctor) grinned from ear to ear while Missy rolled her eyes.  
"It's, well its a bit-" Nardole faltered. The Doctor frowned. "Bit what?"   
Nardole continued. "Well it's a bit, you know; pantomimey?"  
The Doctor gave him a blank stare. "Pantomimey? Nardole, you might not be able to fully understand what is going on but I assure you it is a marvel. You have no idea, the feat it is to link myself to a telepathic circuit around the globe liking me to every person, for just a brief moment to tap into the power of the humanity itself!"  
The Doctor paused to give Nardole time to register his words. Instead Missy snapped her fingers with a look of sudden realization.  
"Jesus Christ Superstar!" She blurted out. Nardole nodded his head in appreciation.  
"That's what I was thinking of, thank you!"   
The Doctor shook his head in disappointment, before turning his attention back to the broadcast, where he saw his fully restored to normal past self, comfort a terrified looking Master, whispering into his ear.   
"What did you say to him?" Nardole asked. The Doctor turned to look at Missy, who was already looking at him expectantly.  
"I forgive you." He spoke tenderly.  
Missy could feel tears rising up, and fought to keep them from breaking out. While the Two Timelords kept staring at each other Nardole just rolled his eyes.

The broadcast comes to a close as the cameras are switched off.  
"So what happens next?" Nardole asked.  
"Ooh some exciting stuff" The Doctor responded. "A lot of drama, explosions, the defeat of an invasion from the human race own future, this one choosing to die because they were to suborn to be stuck in a prison with me" Motioning towards Missy, who just smiled and shrugged.  
"And look where I am now, don't know what I was worried about. Mind you, I remember the waterworks you were giving. I miss that kind of attention sometimes." She coyly said.  
"So all of this is gonna be reverted yeah? We'll forget about this?" Questioned Nardole.  
"Paradox machine will be destroyed by the one and only Captain Jack, the only time I'll approve of guns. History will snap back to a year ago, just after the President was murdered." The Doctor replied.  
"We don't have the advantage of being in the eye of the storm on the Valiant, so we're going to forget, just like the rest of the world. Well, mostly forget." Missy added, she couldn't et The Doctor be the only one to explain things, she was a genius too.  
"I had sworn I'd never let a year of my life disappear again." Nardole muttered, before picking up a glass. "Well, here's to the three of us, surviving the Year That Never Was, The Vault Buddies. Cheers!" Nardole cheerily exclaimed as he toasted. The timelords joined in, clinking their glasses and smiling. "Don't ever call us that again." The Doctor murmured. "Yes, chin chin bald one. I'd say I'll cherish our time together, but we both know this is a rare case where I don't need to appear nice by lying to you." Missy cackled as she downed her drink. Nardole frowned.  
"You know my name is Nardole, right? You didn't go a whole year mentally referring to me as "Bald one", right?"  
"Darling, we knew from the start we would forget everything that happened, when we go back to our proper lives you'll just be once again that odd little man who stands outside the door occasionally squeaking at me to behave, there really was no point in learning your name." She dawdled.   
Upset Nardole just slumped in his chair. The Doctor checks a watch.  
"There's just enough time, so I've got to ask Missy, why didn't you escape?" he asked, staring right at Missy. She began to open her mouth but is interrupted by The Doctor. "And don't play cute with me, I knew what you were preparing, all your little ways of pushing the limit of the systems, distracting me, brainwashing Nardole to be your puppet."  
"She was WHAT-washing me!?" Nardole yelled.   
He was ignored.  
"So after all that; why didn't you run off?"  
Missy shrugged. "Maybe because I was telling you the truth. That I want to be better. That I believe I can be, with your help. That for all our complicated, brutal past lives, this year has proven to me that we are friends. Besides, isn't this the point of your little experiment, to see if I could change."  
Nardole once again frowned. "Experiment?"  
Missy continued. "Temporal Disturbance? You really didn't have to use such terms to trick your bodyguard. We both know you could have left in The TARDIS anytime, spend the year planet hopping with no consequences or skip it entirely. But no, you wanted to be with me the whole time in here, see what I would do. Because you don't want to admit it, but deep down, you really do want me to change, become friends again. To the point you risked time and your own safety to do it to prove your own hunch; even though you won't remember it."  
The Doctor smiled. "I won't remember fully, but it'l leave a feeling somewhere in my mind, a feeling that will in future, help to convince me to trust you in the real timeline."  
Tears came down from Missy's face, as she lifted her hand outwards to The Doctor, who took it into his own. She knew this wouldn't last, that soon this wouldn't even have happened, but for this one moment she knew it was possible for him to truly trust her again someday.  
"We could have left anytime."  
"Mh, sorry Nardole, you say something" The Doctor questioned, turning around to face Nardole; who looked furious.  
"We spent a whole year, inside this cold, depressing box, when this was the one time to break your stupid oath and go out into the universe to enjoy No consequences whatsoever, and yet we spent it in here, because of some, Hunch you have for your crazy ex, leaving me to suffer at the hands of you two emotionally stunted Gods!"  
The Doctor and Missy backed away from Nardole, who looked like he was on the verge of totally losing it. The Doctor whispered to Missy. "The word to mind control Nardole, any chance we could have that now?"  
Missy just shakes her head smiling. "Nah, I think I'll just enjoy this one last show."  
"Fat load of help you are." The Doctor turned his attention back to Nardole. "Now Nardole, I know you've been through a lot, but If you take a moment to think on our long, meaningful friendship-"  
Nardole quickly lurched forwards, grabbing The Doctor by the lapel, dragging him towards himself, their noses practically touching while the furious Nardole shouts at the bewildered Doctor as an amused Missy chuckles in the distance.  
"I'm GOING TO BEAT YOUR ARSE YOU MELODRAMTIC NARCISSTIC MOTHERFU-"

And then, it never happened at all


	12. Day Zero

The screen cut to static, just as the American President had been disintegrated by a laser blast from a floating sphere. Nardole turned to The Doctor, who was rubbing his head as though he had a migraine.  
"Is that supposed to happen?" Nardole asked. After a moments thought The Doctor replied, "I'm pretty sure it's happened. History just reverted. We're in the right timeline."  
"Oh neato. All that build-up, I'm almost disappointed nothing happened." Nardole laughed, before frowning. "Well, I suppose it did happen, but history doesn't remember it happening, which brings in question if it actually did happen-"  
"Nothing would thrill me more than a rousing talk with you about the metaphysics and philosophy of timelines with you Nardole, but right now we've got work to do, move everything back into the office and restore me to Universities net-history before someone notices." The Doctor said. Nardole looked annoyed.  
"But we just spent the whole day doing the opposite of that stuff!"  
"Perfect, than you know how to do it in reverse, we'll be done in time before the fish and chips close, my treat!"  
At the sound of a reward Nardole enthusiastically ran towards the TARDIS, stumbling his way inside. The Doctor faced Missy, who was whereas he was concerned had always been; inside her glass cell.   
"You remember anything?" He asked her.  
"Flashes, but they don't make much sense. Googly eyes, pillow forts; a board game on fire."  
"Same. Must have been a hell of a year." He chuckled, before working his way backward to The TARDIS.  
"Well it's been fun Missy, i'm sure being stuck in a prison with you and trying to stop you from murdering us for a year was a real hoot, but I've got work to do."  
"Of course, don't be a stranger, there are plenty of opportunities to do this again. Dalek invasions, Christmas; oh and speaking of Christmases don't forget the one coming in couple years, you'll be seeing my face a lot!"  
"Who could forget, I eagerly anticipate having to go through every terrible thing that's happened in the 21st th century all over again, and having you remind me of such terrible things. Farewell Missy." With a deliberately over the top bow and a spin he motioned to go inside The TARDIS.  
"Doctor wait, one more thing, this is serious." Missy cried out. He turned around to look at her, pressed closely against the glass, looking at him seriously, almost sad.  
"Yes Missy?"  
"..."  
"I CAN'T DECIDE-" Missy started to sing as loudly as she could but was cut short as the TARDIS door slammed shut and took off, leaving Missy dying of laughter as she heard the sound of the dematerialization echo and then fade in The Vault.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It took a lot of time but everything was back in his place at The Doctors office.   
He had gotten some odd looks from his fellow lecturers, having seen him empty his office only to fill it up on the same day but he already had a reputation, they had seen him do stranger things. The final additions to his desk was the picture frames of River and Susan. The Doctor felt he was rarely this sentimental, and used to think pictures of people were pointless; if you loved people why have a piece of paper that looks like them when you can actually spend time with them? He was very naïve back then.   
Not everyone can time travel after all. It felt right having the two of them by his side during this, unique part of his life. Perhaps in the future, with a big enough desk he could have picture frames of all who traveled with him. It would need to be a very big desk. 

Speaking of people who traveled with him;  
He had sent Nardole with money to pick up food from the fish and chip shop before it closed; enough time to ring up an old friend. Dialing in the number on his office phone, he heard the familiar voice of his old friend. She sounded tired, sad, which given the ordeal she had been through, was fair enough.   
"Miss Jones? I realize you don't know me, and that it's late and you just want to spend time with your family, but on behalf of a stupid, beautiful planet that you just saved and doesn't even know it, I just want to say; thank you, Martha Jones. Thank you for saving the world when no one else could. Now please, get some rest."  
He could hear her sounding shocked and trying to come up with a response on the other end of the line but he disconnected before she could reply.   
He had made sure it was an untraceable number he used, he didn't want Martha, UNIT, or even his past self tracking down where he was, that would raise a lot of embarrassing questions. He knew it was risky to send such a sentimental message to someone who wouldn't even recognize the person speaking to them, but he knew she had gone through a lot alone that year, and deserved gratitude and a thank you from somebody for all the hard work she had done at risk to herself. 

All unsung hero's do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we are, my little story has come to an end!   
> Not sure if I'm going to do another fanfic, I do have some potential ideas, could do more stories taking place in The Year That Never Was setting from other character perspectives, like the Sarah Jane Adventures team, as I think it's a very interesting setting that I don't think a lot of fanfic use a lot of (there does seem to be a staggering amount of TYTNW Doctor/Master smut though, which, um, not my cup of tea personally but kudos if it's yours)  
> I am tempted to do a Tegan/Nyssa story since RTD made it canon despite what happened in Big Finish stories   
> (mad bastard I love him) 
> 
> And was also considering an adaption of popular VNA book Love and War in an 11th Doctor setting as that was something Moffat and Cornell proposed a couple of times and I find it fun to imagine what that could have been like.
> 
> If I do any of these ideas depends if I have the time or passion for it, so if one of these ideas in particular interests you let me know!  
> But until then, thanks to everyone who read my first fanfic, I hope it entertained you during these troubling times.


End file.
